Office of Campus Community Relations

November 11, 2004
Davis Enterprise

'Twilight' playwright provokes thought

By Sharon Stello/Enterprise staff writer

Through performance and discussion Tuesday, acclaimed actress, author and playwright Anna Deavere Smith helped the Davis community shed some light on racial issues in America that are often hidden in the shadows of twilight.

Smith led community leaders in a panel discussion with about 50 people in attendance at the Mondavi Center during lunchtime. In the evening, she performed "Twilight: Complexities of Race in America," a unique combination of journalism, theater, lecture and performance art, in front of a nearly full house at the Mondavi Center.

One of Smith's books, "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," about the L.A. riots after the Rodney King verdict, is this year's selection for the Campus Community Book Project, which encourages everyone in the community to read the same book and take part in discussions and other events. For "Twilight," Smith interviewed more than 300 people about the riots and wrote her book as a script, which she has brought to life as a one-woman play based on several of the characters.

Smith is perhaps best known for her role as national security adviser on NBC's popular show "West Wing," or for her work in movies such as "Philadelphia" and "The Human Stain." But she also has had a long and distinguished career in live theater. She received a prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius" fellowship in 1996.

"Fires in the Mirror," a play she wrote about riots between Jews and African Americans, was an Obie Award winner and a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize in 1993. "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," was an Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee, and was adapted for film by director Marc Levin.

Smith's appearance Tuesday night was part of the Davis book project and U\CD's Distinguished Speakers series. She performed pieces from "Twilight," "Fires in the Mirror" and other material she has collected dealing with race and the American experience.

Dressed in black with her hair pulled back and nothing more than a long, black coat for a prop, Smith brought characters from her plays to life, switching from a Korean woman whose store was burned down in the L.A. riots to a Hispanic man who was beaten by police, to a Jewish woman in New York and more. By changing only her accent, body language and mannerisms, Smith made it seem as though the people she portrayed were truly there on stage.

Although much time was dedicated to her performance, Smith's own voice was not absent. She shared an experience that shows racism still exists, even in diverse university towns with highly educated people.

Smith said she arrived in Davis Monday night and, after checking into a downtown hotel, decided to walk to Fuji restaurant on G Street for some sushi. Walking in the dark, she reached a corner with no street sign and wasn't sure where she was. She approached a slowly passing car to ask for directions and was surprised by the driver's reaction. The man, she said, made a pointed decision to lock his doors, stared straight ahead and drove away.

She wondered, was her long, black winter coat scary? Did her curly hair look a little too wild? And she felt at a loss, unable to explain to the man that she only wanted to ask for directions. He was inside the car and she was outside with no way to communicate through the metal and glass separating them.

At first, Smith said she "kind of dismissed it" because it was Davis. Later, she decided even these small incidents shouldn't be ignored and she believes it's important that Davis residents are coming together to talk about the type of community they want. Reading and discussing the same book is one way to start and, she said, it doesn't really matter which book they chose.

"You could be reading the 'Cat in the Hat' - the fact is that you're convening," Smith said during the panel discussion.

Panelist Jann Murray-García, a pediatrician, health researcher and local community activist, noted "how profoundly different our lives can be living in the same city."

Davis police Lt. Colleen Turay said even the same incident can be perceived in many different ways.

She shared an experience from a few years back when she was a sergeant working patrol in South Davis. She decided to stop for coffee and pulled into a parking space to call her husband on the cell phone. In front of her were two African American couples on bicycles.

Turay said she was thinking how lucky they were to be on a bike ride that morning and she wished she could do the same. She was ready to wave and say "hello" when one woman passed by close to the patrol car, looked at Turay and said, "Don't worry, we're perfectly benign."

Turay said she felt awful, realizing it must have looked like she saw the bicyclists, pulled over and called in to headquarters to report these people, and that she was picking on them because of race since they weren't doing anything illegal.

Murray-García said she would love to see more of the educated Davis people realizing that "we are not what we could be." She would like more people to find "that courage to step in where you're not the expert" and learn about another group or way of life.

Davis High student Padraic Wheeler, a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance student group, said there aren't many opportunities to get to know people from other groups and division at DHS is noticeable, particularly at lunch time when "you see so much separation just by race."

Smith the school should develop a reward system to encourage students of different backgrounds to come together and get to know one another.

Panelist Mikael Villalobos, a UCD staff member at Early Academic Outreach and climate activities coordinator for the Davis schools, said he believes people are paralyzed by the possibility of saying the wrong thing.

Smith pointed out that "what's more important than what somebody says is their intention." She added later that, perhaps people are afraid of saying the wrong thing because of "this desire in a university atmosphere to be smart." The biggest mistake and hindrance to bridging differences, she said, is to think we can know it all.

Hamza El-Nakhal, who serves on the Davis Human Relations Commission, said, "We're different from Los Angeles, but we still really do have the disparity."

"There is very little we do to develop unity until now," El-Nakhal said. "Our community has a lot of caring people, definitely, but we need to do more."

El-Nakhal said he was pleased with the community Fast-for-a-Day dinner on Friday where neighbors came together to share a meal and learn about the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. El-Nakhal said he believes bringing people together like this is a good way to start building relationships across different groups.

"We just have to be one big family," El-Nakhal said.

Smith shared concerns that this approach might not work.

"Some people are afraid of the family metaphor because families have their own dysfunctions," she said. "We maybe ask too much of ourselves to make a family of man right now."

Smith said perhaps a new infrastructure needs to be developed or we need to find "a new template that just isn't as organized as we thought it was."

However, El-Nakhal noted, "We have to start somewhere."

- Reach Sharon Stello at sstello@davisenterprise.net or 747-8043.

Wednesday, November 11, 2004